Who me? A parasite?

Well, I've been called many things in my lifetime, but this is the first time anyone has ever referred to me as a parasite.

Alright, so it wasn't direct, but I'm included in the group of parent's that Amanda Peet so lovingly referred to in a recent article in Cookie. Quite frankly, I barely know who Amanda Peet is, but her stance on childhood vaccinations caught my attention.

"Once we had spoken, I was shocked at the amount of misinformation floating around, particularly in Hollywood," says Peet, who quickly boned up on the hot-button controversies surrounding the topic, including the unproven link between certain vaccines and autism; the safety of preservatives like mercury-based thimerosal; and the fear that the relatively high number of shots kids receive today can overwhelm young immune systems. Her conclusion? Well, not only is Frankie up-to-date on her vaccines (with no staggering), but her mom will soon appear in public-service announcements for Every Child by Two. "I buy 99 percent organic food for Frankie, and I don't like to give her medicine or put sunscreen on her," says Peet. "But now that I've done my research, vaccines do not concern me." What does concern her is the growing number of unvaccinated children who are benefiting from the "shield" created by the inoculated—we are protected from viruses only if everyone, or most everyone, is immunized: "Frankly, I feel that parents who don't vaccinate their children are parasites."

Thank you. I'll take that as a compliment. 🙂

If you'd prefer to read something of greater substance, I would highly recommend this Open Letter on Vaccinations by Dr. Jay Gordon, in response to the controversy created by Ms. Peet's words.

Quite truthfully, I'm not offended in the slightest and she is entirely welcome to her viewpoint. I think, however, that it's worth highlighting some more substantial information and research than simply the opinion of a Hollywood star, don't you?

Reader Interactions

Comments

Well, count me in, I guess I’m a parasite also. My son had his first two sets of shots and then I stopped as I felt that was just to much on his little body and all the new information coming to light. And I have to say, my son is 14 months old and has had ONE cold and otherwise has been very healthy compared to my friends who have had all the shots for their kids and they are sick every other week with something.

I am glad to see that I am not the only one who has a problem with the vaccines. I have 6 children, 3 who are not vaccinated. After doing research, I am convinced that they do more harm than good. I appreciate your posts:) They are quite encouraging.

I guess to each his own. 🙂 My son is caught up on his vaccinations, although we did do them a lot slower than recommended. If we have another one, I think we’ll be even more selective and leave out quite a few. The Vaccine Book (also a website @ http://www.vaccinebook.com) has some really great information in it. Tells you how each vaccine is made, and how bad the illnesses actually are. Was really worth buying it for myself.

This doesn’t shock me at all. There has been a mumps out break in BC. They are strongly encouraging everyone to get up to date. Only my older 2 have that vaccination. My younger 3 do not. The outbreak started I believe in the Bountiful religous ( they are apart of the Texas FLDS)sect. Where no one has been vaxed. I do feel a little concerned, as every night on the news they are showing on a map of BC where another one has gotten it. On the other hand our government is TICKED people are turning the MMR down. So the thought crossed my mind this was a lie the government is trying to scare people into getting vaxed.

Wow parasites huh? It really surprises me that someone who has done research can actually come to the conclusion that vaccines are safe. We have 3 children and one on the way and not one has been vaccinated. Glad to see some other like minded people out there.

This is such a hard thing. I respect the right of parents to not vax. their children. I would never not vax my children, although I would likely vax. on alternate schedules, and may omit some. I have to honestly admit, having looked at both sides of the questions, can’t understand why someone wouldn’t vax. But, I respect parent’s rights to not vax. And I’m not sure the appropriate or helpful response is to call someone a parasite. Seems to me we can have a discussion and not result to name-calling.

My concern is this. My mother is immuno-suppressed. In my next pregnancy I will give birth to a child that is premature. Quite possibly very premature. A child that is not vaccinated in a Sunday school, a child that is not vax. on a play ground, these children represent a significant and life threatening risk to my child and my mother. What might be a “simple” childhood disease for your child could spell the end for my child or my mother.

A child that has not been vax. for measels, could infect a pregnant woman with the disease. Causing a life-changing situation for a woman who is now faced with a baby who has significant birth defects, in what would normally have been a healthy pregnancy.

What I’m not sure of is how we balance the rights of everyone in this case. The right of parents not to vax, and the right of other parents, other children, the immuno-suppressed and pregnant women to not be infected with life threatening or life altering diseases.

And I’m not sure how I do this. So I ask, humbly, given that we all live in a community, and given with the amount of travel that is a feature of our modern world, how do you protect other people, other children from the effects of diseases that can be vaccinated against?

Do you limit where your children go? Do you caution pregnant women that your children have not been vax. so that they can possibly limit their conduct? Would you be aware of how important it would be to limit your contact and the contact of your family in the case of a seriously ill or premature child?

My first son had a seizure after his 3rd set of vaccines. Up to that point, I had been vaccinating on the “normal” vaccination schedule. (Although at that point there were far fewer than their are now). After that seizure, I did some research into vaccines and discovered quite a few disturbing things.

The most disturbing was that there are quite a few vaccines that are manufactured with a process that makes use of cell lines coming from aborted babies. As a devout Catholic, I was absolutely horrified to discover this. Among the vaccines that use this horrifying technology are the chickenpox and rubella vaccines. In the US, there are NO ethical options for either one.

I decided not to give my son the MMR vaccine (the Rubella component of which is unethical). I do not give the chickenpox vaccine either.

My youngest, currently 7 months old, is on an alternative vaccination schedule. Firstly, he is only getting one shot at a time, and his body gets a minimum of 2 weeks to recover between vaccinations. This is key, as part of the reason my 10 yo suffered the seizure and subsequent learning disabilities and sensory integration dysfunction from his vaccine was due to toxin overload on his immature immune system and brain. Secondly, there are vaccines which we don’t give. We didn’t give the rotavirus vaccine as by the time he was old enough for it, rotavirus season was over, and by the next rotavirus season, he’ll be big enough that dehydration won’t be a concern. We also, again, do not administer the unethical vaccines.

Contrary to what some people believe, the non-vaccinated children are NOT a threat to public health. IF they contract a disease (highly unlikely in this age of improved nutrition, healthcare and hygeine – all of which has had a greater impact on public health than vaccine programs), they stay away from others – as do most people when they get sick.

It is true, from an epidemiological perspective, that a population can withstand having 5% of people not vaccinatiated and not have an epidemic of a given disease (I wish I had a citation for this but it’s pretty long standing–I remember it long before I worried about vaccination personally)

In populations where children are not being vaccinatinated out of some religious or philosophical principle, there are burgeoning epidemics of some illnesses that are nearly eradicated elsewhere.

We though and prayed long and hard on this issue, and we talked to several pediatricians and others before making our decision to vaccinate our kids, mostly on schedule but with some delays. We did it because we didn’t have known risk factors (history, allergies, bad reactions, that sort of thing) and because we felt a responsibility to the community at large to allow those people who had legitimate medical reasons to not vaccinate to opt out. It worked for us, and I’ve had my moments of being really annoyed (generally when our older child was playing with another child and I had a new baby or was pregnant) when someone went on and on about how they were opposed to vaccinations. I wanted to say to the mother with a four year old with a bad cough (when pertussus was prevalent in our area and I had a newborn) that I hated that my baby was having to bear the burden of that decision, and I wished I had known that before our weekly playdates started, but I didn’t. Thankfully it all worked out OK.

I’m in a quandry right now about vaccinations. My children were born overseas and they followed a different vaccination schedule from that used in North America.

My daughter is entering preschool this year and the doctor says that she needs another vaccination to make her record current. The vaccination is called Prevnar – for pneumoccocal meningitis. My daughter will be 5 years old in March. When she turns 5 – the Prevnar vaccine is no longer required. That is only 7 months from now! I’m wondering how important it is to give her the Prevnar vaccination if in just 7 short months it won’t be deemed *necessary*.

The Hewitson study showed that monkeys given the mercury load of the childhood immunization schedule of the early 90’s showed “autism like symptoms”:

Thimersol has been eliminated or nearly eliminated from the required childhood vaccines (small ammounts remain in the flu vaccine and a few others, but it is nothing like what it was nearly 20 years ago)

“autism like symptoms”–that is key. Since other primates don’t communicate like we do, and since it is well known that mercury poisioning mimics autism, it is impossible to tell truly what is going on here.

Part of what dissuaded me from the anti-vaccine stance generally was the way its’ proponents missuse science to achieve its’ ends.

I highly recommend Dr Sears The Vaccine Book as well. My daughter is 14 months now and hasn’t been vaccinated, but will receive a few of the recommend vaccines when she is older: 1) such as the two that protect pregnant women and new infants (Pertussis of the DTaP and Rubella) 2) chicken pox if she has not received them by age 11 and 3) Men C after 12 year or when encountering dorm life.

Dr Sears advice to nurse your baby for the first two years of life to boost immune system needs to be heeded by more women! If more women just nursed their babies longer (and work places offered better maternity leave for working women to encourage longer breastfeeding, as in Europe) then we wouldn’t need as many vaccines. Most of these vaccines are to protect bottle fed babies in day care during their first two years of life.

Saying that non vaccinated children are putting others at risk is a great misconception and it only shows lack of education. In the other hand, vaccinated children are the ones that are threatening the health of others; they are the ones walking around with live viruses capable of spreading and animal DNA in their bloodstream with the potential of mutating and causing all kind of anomalies.

I was wondering: what sources for the vaccine components made from aborted babies? Rubella vaccines are attenuated– semi-dead germs– and I don’t understand what they would use the stem cells for? I’d be very interested in reading the article.

I recommend speaking to your grandparents and great-grandparents and asking them what they remember about polio epidemics, kids going blind from measles, etc.; the reason that most of the required (for school) vaccines were invented were because thousands of children per year were dying of the illnesses they prevent. Thousands of people still die per year in other countries where measles, for instance, is not vaccinated against (Japan for instance). It’s everyone’s own decision and you have to decide for your child what you think is safest. I think it is just wise to gather as much information as possible. The CDC website is useful for the “official” US line on vaccines and vaccine side-effects; http://www.cdc.gov.

I think a gentle, rational approach will go a long way toward making those who vaccinate stop looking at those who don’t as “parasites”. What vaccinating parents usually get from non-vaccinating parents is: “how can you poison your child?” I have never told my non-vaccinating friends “how can you allow your child to put my child’s life at risk?”

We just need to be careful not to be as judgemental as the people who are calling others “parasites”. I am an RN and I respect scientific studies. There are some vaccines I do NOT think are save (the HPV vaccine) but there are others that I will use unhesitatingly, because I’ve read the 40+ years of studies on them and I’m comfortable with their safety and effectiveness. If you all can respect my vaccinated self, I can respect you unvaccinated folks. 🙂

I’ve been reading the book, The Sanctity of Human Blood: Vaccination is Not Immunization by Tim O’Shea. He also has an article on the web stating that a researcher found the measles virus in the guts of a high percentage of autistic kids compared to a small percentage in “normal” kids. The measles virus in their guts, it continued to state, was from vaccinations. I think it’s safe to say that this chiropractor is against all or almost all vaccinations. The following is the web address: http://www.chiroweb.com/mpacms/dc/article.php?id=32017 The book even has statements about how vaccinations are found to be effective for a little while and then not at all. And adverse events or side effects to vaccinations haven’t been recorded earlier than 1991 so therefore, we can’t refer to any older records to say that they are considered safe at all. To my understanding of my book, the actual vaccinations have been associated with the rise of autoimmune diseases and that in itself tell me vaccinations are not helping us with our immunity, they are actually making our bodies’ immunities worse. The book is worthy to read since it has so many references to other literature to back up its claims. I have talked to my friends whose children haven’t been vaccinated since birth and read literature like mentioned above. After all of this, I came to a conclusion that I don’t want to vaccinate my children if God blesses me with them. I rather have them get chiropractor adjustments (has been shown to me personally to contribute to a more healthy immunity) , eat, and have an active lifestyle to promote immunity naturally.

Here’s the thing about vaccines…they have saved thousands of lives over the years. All you have to do is visit a country where there are no vaccines available and you will understand the impact they have had on health care.

Smallpox was eradicated due to vaccination.

Polio is nearing eradication due to vaccination.

That “shield” that was mentioned is very important. Up to 5% of the population can remain unvaccinated and everyone will still be protected. That 5% should include children with genetic (usually dysfuntion of the immune system) or aquired diseases (HIV) that prevent them from safely getting vaccinated. For now, healthy unvaccinated children are benefiting from the vaccinated children. If the trend against vaccination continues or grows, the “shield” will break down. I challenge you to pick up any medical textbook and flip to the chapter on infectious diseases. Read up on the consequences of the diseases we vaccinate against. Look at the pictures. Talk to the older generation about the fear and heartbreak of hearing that your child could have polio.

Those parents who choose not to vaccinate their children should let others know about this decision, especially if their children will be around young babies, pregnant women, people undergoing cancer treatment, the elderly, or otherwise immune compromised individuals.

This message is to those who are for vaccinations and believe that they helped in eradicating diseases over the years. Please cite references to your claims that vaccinations help in eradicating diseases. Opponents like Tim O’Shea ( just google Tim O’Shea) , a chiropractor against vaccinations, claim that the diseases that were affecting whole populations at a time eventually eradicated themselves over time, not the vaccinations. He lists in the book I mentioned above (” The Sanctity of Blood…” ) the time periods when vaccinations were used and the times when diseases were prevalent over years. He concluded that the list in itself shows how the times of when the vaccinations were used did not correspond with the times when diseases were getting to be wiped out. Sometimes I wonder how my mom (she passed away) was found to have alot of metal toxicity in her (it was dscovered that she had alot of mercury- this affected her overall health) and I wonder if it’s due to all the vaccinations that were required for her to get being a care home worker. I don’t know… I just wonder about that.

If Amanda doesn’t want to medicate her child, she failed miserably in giving them shots. What does she think are in them?

Also, I hope she’s gone to the doctor to see if she’s actually immune to anything because the effects of vaccines don’t always take and don’t always stick around, either. She could be walking around as a “parasite” herself and not even know it. Everyone would have to be tested for antibodies (and I mean EVERYONE) in order to make sure they were actually immune. Vaccination does not equal immunization. Even the manufacturers aren’t dumb enough to go around saying THAT. No one wants to take time to read the information that comes with the vaccines, though.

” For now, healthy unvaccinated children are benefiting from the vaccinated children. If the trend against vaccination continues or grows, the “shield” will break down.”

Herd immunity is ridiculous. If vaccinating your child makes him immune to diseases, they will not get those disease even if they are exposed to them. Your kid won’t have to worry because he is immune. What you are saying here is that you can vaccinate your child to bits but they will STILL get a disease. That makes NO SENSE. If the vax is given to create immunity, then your kid is immune. No ifs ands or buts. And are you up to date on YOUR vaccines? When is the last time you had all of your antibodies checked to make sure vax’s you got perhaps decades ago are still working? Maybe you’re one of the people we should all be afraid of!

Unvaxed kids do not benefit from vax’ed kids. But vax manufacturers and doctors benefit from vax’ed kids, I can promise you that.

Also, *I* am personally vaccinated but I was born in 1972 so I don’t have all the shots they give kids today. Would you propose that all adults born before say 1998 have to haul into the doctors and get tested for antibodies and then shot up again and again? At whose expense would THAT be? And if we don’t, aren’t we all AT RISK?

Do you see how overly dramatic this all is and how it’s scare mongering on the part of the vax makers and BigPharma, the governments and the medical community who allllll have monetary reasons to want you to vax?

Very interesting discussion. We have chosen not to vaccinate. I too have The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears, and although he seems fairly unbiased, it really solidified my position. I won’t give it to my children before their immune system is more developed, and when they are more developed the diseases are no longer that harmful to them. What surprises me is that so many adults see unvaccinated children as harmful, when the vast majority of adults do not maintain their booster shots. Unbeknownst to them, they too can be carriers.

Old people didn’t get the same vaccination as our kids have today. And they managed just fine. It’s an option for the parents to get their kids vaccinated. Those who don’t shouldn’t be judged harshly. They might have a pretty good reason they don’t want to.